


Breaking the Ice

by Cybra



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Slow Romance, also a mention of Manny the Headless Manhorse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 22:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15738243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cybra/pseuds/Cybra
Summary: (Minor spoilers for "The Shadow War!")It wasn't a date.  It was just meeting up together as friends, Fenton with Gyro and Gandra with a friend of her own.  Only Fenton had a problem:  Gyro had refused to go and he'd asked almost everyone in the Bin to fill in except for one person.As if he wasn't nervous enough.





	Breaking the Ice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sinclaironfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinclaironfire/gifts).



> **SPOILER WARNING:** Minor spoilers for “The Shadow War!”
> 
> A birthday gift for my buddy and fellow Evil Club member, Sinclaironfire! For those not in the know, the characterization for Gandra Dee is based on their story [Girl Friday](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14608125/chapters/33763467) and lots of little snippets we toss back and forth during Evil Club, so not likely to be completely canon compliant when Gandra finally shows up. Also, there’s a reference to one story from the Disney Duck comics in here. See if you can spot it!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** _Ducktales_ belongs to the Walt Disney Company.

Scrooge knew he was going to have a weird day when he entered the newly-repaired R&D lab (it was too expensive and less secure to build fresh elsewhere despite Gyro’s protests) and was met by Fenton grabbing the lapels of his coat and shouting, “Mr. McDuck, are you doing anything tonight?!”

The richest duck in the world blinked his eyes twice, staring up at his employee with slightly slack-jawed shock.  It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard offers before—he got plenty—but this was admittedly the most direct one he’d received in quite some time.  “Lad, I appreciate the interest, but I’m afraid you’re not the sort of person I’d be looking for if I were trying to find a partner.”

Silence filled the lab.

Then Gyro started whooping with laughter, pounding on his desk with his fist as tears started streaming down his face.

“What?  No!  No no no no no!  That’s not what I meant!” Fenton yelped, releasing Scrooge and flailing his arms wildly. “I’ve got a… _thing_ …tonight and I haven’t been able to find anyone to go with me, and if I don’t show up with someone and she does, it’ll be awkward!”

The shorter duck quirked a brow before looking to where his head of research and development struggled to breathe as Manny fanned him with a folder.  “Translation please?”

His family leaving a second time and the entire incident with Magica’s escape bringing them back had pressed in him a sudden desperate need to make more stable connections with others, particularly his ever-loyal Bin workers (along with Beakley and Launchpad) whom he considered on some level members of his extended family.  However, he did find it hard to communicate with them sometimes.  He was still learning Fenton’s measure, so right now he went to the resident expert in panicky Crackshell-Cabrera.

“He has a date tonight—” Gyro wheezed.

“It’s not a date!” Fenton protested, cheeks red. “It’s an agreement to meet up with a group of friends and spend time together!  As friends!  With Gandra…and her friend!”

“…Whatever.  Anyway, he’s been asking everyone to go with him all week after I turned him down flat.”

“I don’t even know why I thought you’d come,” the former intern moaned.

“I don’t know why you did either.  I thought you would’ve learned by now:  My idea of the perfect evening off is sitting at home with a pizza and one of my _Planetary Wars_ Blu-rays in my PJs.”

After spending three days drowning his sorrows in pizza, Scrooge grimaced at the mention of it.  (It was going to be another week or two at least before he’d be able to eat his favorite comfort food again.)  However, the rest of what Gyro said intrigued him.  “Which ones?  Personally, I prefer the original trilogy.  Haven’t been able to enjoy anything that came after.”

Gyro blinked before his face lit up.  “Mostly the originals; I’m not the biggest fan of the newer stuff either.  Well, except for the TV shows.”

“Aren’t those animated?” Scrooge asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

“Don’t let that fool you:  The overarching storyline is incredible.  I could loan you my Blu-rays sometime if you want.  Your nephews might enjoy them, too.”

“Can we please focus?” Fenton begged, pressing his hands together. “I’ve only got two hours, thirteen minutes, and fifty-nine seconds until my date… _meet up_ …and I’m out of options.”  He cast a pleading look at his employer, falling to his knees.  “Please, Mr. McDuck!  I’ll do anything!”

Scrooge gave his employee a bland look before rolling his eyes.  “Oh, all right.  Donald’s been nagging me to get out and do something ‘social’ and ‘normal’” he held up his hands for finger-quotes “ever since…what happened…so this’ll buy me some peace.  But on two conditions.”

“Name them!”

“First, nothing fancy.  I don’t want Gandra’s plus one thinking I’m looking for a Mrs. McDuck.”  He paused.  “Or a Mr. McDuck for that matter.  Who’s she bringing anyway?”

“I didn’t ask,” Fenton admitted sheepishly, “but we’re just going to a diner—not the one Gandra used to work at, somewhere nicer—and then a movie afterwards.”

The Scotsman rolled his eyes again.  “Well, at least it being midweek means less crowds at the theater.”  He pointed at the far-younger man.  “Second, you’re paying for everything for me.  I am not spending a single penny.”

“Done!”  Fenton leaned forward to kiss his spat, making him jerk his foot back in surprise.  “Thank you thank you thank you!”

“Yes, well, you’re welcome.”  He then looked back to Gyro.  “So, about those plans you were going to show me…”

* * *

 

With the mansion still largely a wreck and the houseboat in the process of being dredged up from the bay, the Duck-McDuck family had to stay in a hotel.  Likely because of Scrooge’s own feelings of guilt, they were staying in the presidential suite of Scrooge’s fanciest hotel in Duckburg while Scrooge himself had a normal room.  True, there was more than enough room for Scrooge to join them in the massive luxury suite that dwarfed most apartments, but Donald had the feeling that Scrooge needed somewhere private to lick his proverbial still-raw wounds for at least a few hours at the end of the workday.  (Plus if he came home late from the office, he wouldn’t disturb the kids.)

His phone buzzed, and Donald turned his gaze away from the massive flat-screen he and the kids were watching _Ottoman Empire_ on, picking up his phone to read the text:

_Out 4 eve. Tell B not 2 set place 4 me. C u all 2moro._

“150 years old, richest duck in the world, and he still texts like a fifteen year-old girl,” Donald muttered, rolling his eyes as he typed back a simple “ok”.  With that, he put down his phone.

He glanced up as Beakley entered the living room area.

“I’ve ordered dinner to be brought up in about an hour.  Make sure to let room service in.”

“What?” Donald asked, blinking.

She raised a brow at him.  “I told you yesterday:  I’ll be out for this evening.”  She started walking towards the door, pulling on a jacket.  “Make sure Mr. McDuck eats some of it.  Shove it down his throat if you must.”

“But Uncle Scrooge is—”  He sighed as she left.

Well, nothing for it.  At least if Scrooge skipped dinner by being out, it was only his neck that Beakley would wring.

* * *

 

Gandra felt embarrassed as she picked up the older woman from the hotel.  “Thank you so much, Mrs. Beakley.  I didn’t know who else to invite.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” Beakley said as she settled in and buckled her seatbelt. “Though I think this is a sign that you need to start expanding your social circle a bit.”

The young woman flushed a deeper shade of pink than she had already turned.  “I know, I know.  I just don’t want another Johnny, y’know?”

At least she could actually _name_ her controlling ex now.  For weeks after the disastrous end to the relationship and the awful fallout that followed, she’d only been able to refer to the man as “him”.

Judging from the encouraging smile her mentor gave her, Beakley was proud of her for that.  “Nothing wrong with being cautious, but people might start worrying about your choice in friends if most of them are at least twice your age and prone to using bladed or blunt objects to solve serious issues.”

“Gyro’s my age.”

“Yes, but he solves his problems with lasers, dear.”

The rest of the drive was uneventful as they pulled into the parking garage perfectly positioned within walking distance of both the diner and the movie theater.

“Third Level, Row G…Third Level, Row G…” she murmured to herself, scanning the signs and driving them onto the correct row.

As she pulled into a vacant spot, Fenton hurried over to greet her while his companion followed at a more sedate pace.

“Gandra!  Hi!  You made it!” he gushed, giggling nervously.  He then gave a wide, toothy, awkward smile as he gestured to his companion.  “Um, you know my friend…Mr. McDuck…”

“Off the clock, lad.  Tonight it’s just ‘Scrooge’,” their employer said with a smirk as Gandra gawked.  He then quirked an eyebrow at her own companion. “So what should I be calling you for this evening?”

“‘Bentina’ will do,” Beakley said with equal amusement. “Last-minute invite?”

“Aye,” Scrooge said cheerfully. “First pick?”

“Second.  Emily couldn’t make it.”

“Ah.”

Gandra wanted to strangle herself with her own sweater.  Fenton laughed nervously.

This was going to be an…interesting…evening.

* * *

 

If Gandra didn’t consider tonight a complete disaster and never want to speak to him again, Fenton would count himself lucky.  The two of them had been mostly quiet the entire time as the older adults had chatted in some sort of strange half-unspoken language all their own.

Then had been the movie.  _Double-Oh Duck_.  A fun spy thriller or so the advertisements would’ve had you believe.

“I can’t believe we weren’t kicked out of the theater,” Fenton groaned as they exited the theater as the credits rolled.

“Apparently a slow night and being with the owner of the theater has its perks?” Gandra offered by way of trying to cheer him up.

Scrooge was gasping for breath, still periodically chuckling, after he’d laughed through the entire film as if he were watching a comedy rather than an action blockbuster.

Meanwhile, Beakley had been indignant, periodically shouting “No spy in their right mind would ever do that!” before starting to critique the actions of the various characters.

Fenton stopped, rubbing at his upper arm.  Gandra stopped as well, looking at him curiously.  The other two continued on as if they hadn’t noticed, Beakley still railing against the actions of the heroic spies during their attempts to steal the MacGuffin’s Diamond from the bad guys.

“Gandra, I’m sorry.  This…this really didn’t turn out the way I planned.”  He rubbed the back of his neck.  “I wanted you to have fun, but this whole night’s just been…weird.”

“I did have fun,” she told him honestly, “even with all the weird.”  She shrugged.  “We’re Money Bin workers:  Weird is normal for us, remember?”

“Okay yeah, but…I wanted to show you a good time and I thought Gyro would back me up but he bailed and—Wait, you seriously had fun?”

She nodded.  Then her cheeks turned a bit pink.  “Though next time, how about just the two of us?  As friends, I mean.  We don’t have to jump into anything serious.  Or make things awkward at work.”

Fenton’s eyes grew wide.  “You mean it?”

She nodded as she toyed with her hands.  “To be honest, I’m not ready for jumping into dating again—it’s gonna take a long time for that—but I would like to get to know you better at least.  Become better friends?”

“Yeah…yeah!” Fenton cheered. “That’d be great!  Does next week sound okay?”

“That works.  I don’t have anywhere I need to be on Wednesdays,” she said, relaxing and smiling brightly. “You think maybe I could pick this time?”

“Sure!” he chirped as they resumed following their companions.

* * *

 

“Finally broke the ice, did they?” Scrooge asked, amused.

“About time.  I was starting to get worried they’d want to do this again,” Beakley grumbled. “I’ll never be able to unsee that dreadful film.”

He gave a barking laugh at that as she finally allowed herself a small chuckle.

Without being asked, she pulled out her cellphone as he turned around to call to the younger duo, “We’ll be hitching our own ride with Launchpad back to the hotel!”

That startled the other two out of their conversation.

“Are you sure?” Fenton asked.

Scrooge gave a flippant shrug.  “We’re both going to the same place anyway.  No need to make both of you drive us there individually.  I’ll see you tomorrow at work bright and early!”

“Yes, sir!” the two chirped before diving back into their conversation.

“You know they’re likely going to head back to that diner for coffee,” she said dryly, raising the phone to her ear.

“Aye, and they’ll both be groggy from staying up too late.  I’ll just dock their pay if either one of them falls asleep on the job,” Scrooge said cheerfully.

“Just making sure you were aware.”  Beakley turned her attention to the phone as the pilot’s voice greeted her.  “Launchpad, Mr. McDuck and I need a pickup.  We’re at…”


End file.
